Innovations in electronic reading have me wondering, will I be reading novels in print or on screen next year?
Recently, the release of Amazon’s Kindle has sparked a debate about the relationship between technology and the written word. Can a screen replicate the experience of curling up with a paperback? Will technology transform the publishing industry? Will the quality of literature decline as it becomes easier to publish electronically? Will public and private libraries become obsolete?
These questions aren’t as far-fetched as they may seem; not only does Kindle boast over 90,000 titles, but other forms of electronic reading like“cellphone novels” are gaining popularity. The cellphone novel became trendy in Japan, following the availability of unlimited text messaging in recent years. This year, five of the 10 bestselling books in Japan were cellphone novels. Cellphone novels are published in installments as the author writes them, much the way Dickens delivered his work to the public.
Will there be a Dickens of the cellphone? According to a cover article in this Sunday’s New York Times, “many cellphone novelists had never written fiction before, and may of their readers had never read novels before”. This certainly bodes well for increasing the number of readers in the world, but does it bode well for the quality of our literature? While the latest Japanese trashy novel may be written for a cellphone, Murakami still writes for print. But for how long?
I, for one, love the printed word. I love the feel of a book in my hands, the smell of old pages, and the crinkling sound that a newspaper makes. Reading is mostly about the words, but it’s also a visceral experience.
Yet I’m curious. Becoming an electronic reader may bring me convenience that I can only dream of as a print reader. For now, I’ll keep stocking up my beloved print library. Maybe next year, I’ll be compiling chapters as text messages.
